Wicked's Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are among the stars who have scored nominations for the Golden Globes, as the Hollywood award season kicks off in earnest.
British actress Erivo is shortlisted for best female actor in a comedy or musical film for her role as Elphaba, while co-star Grande is in the running for best supporting female actor for playing Glinda.
Angelina Jolie, Hugh Grant, Timothee Chalamet, Sebastian Stan, Demi Moore, Pamela Anderson, Kate Winslet and Selena Gomez are among the other big names in contention.
The Golden Globes have been through controversy in recent years but remain the first major awards in the film calendar, and provide pointers for who could do well at next year's Oscars.
Netflix musical Emilia Pérez, about a Mexican drug lord who changes gender, leads the nominations overall with 10, including one for Gomez.
Other prominent films include heavyweight dramas The Brutalist, about a Hungarian architect who tries to build a new life in the US after World War Two, and Conclave, about a group of scheming cardinals who gather to select the new Pope.
The top film nominees
- Emilia Perez - 10
- The Brutalist - 7
- Conclave - 6
- Anora - 5
- The Substance - 5
Unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes also have awards for TV shows, with The Bear, Only Murders in the Building, Shogun and Baby Reindeer the main contenders in those categories.
Oscar contenders
Jolie is the frontrunner to win best female actor in a drama film for playing legendary opera singer Maria Callas in Maria.
She will face competition from Nicole Kidman for Babygirl, as well as Anderson for playing a veteran Las Vegas showgirl in The Last Showgirl.
British stars Winslet and Tilda Swinton are also in that category, as is Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres.
Winslet has two nominations in total - one on the film side for playing war photographer Lee Miller in Lee, and one for portraying a fictional dictator in her TV show The Regime.
In the race for best male actor in a drama film, The Brutalist's Adrien Brody and Conclave's Ralph Fiennes are seen as the main contenders.
Meanwhile, Stan is nominated for playing Donald Trump in The Apprentice, about the incoming US president's early years, and Chalamet is recognised for portraying singer Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.
They are joined on the shortlist by former James Bond star Daniel Craig for playing a US expat in 1950s South America in Queer, and Colman Domingo for his role in Sing Sing, about a prison theatre group.
All will also have a shot of receiving Oscar nominations when they are announced in January.
Newcomers and veterans
Unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globe split most of their categories in two, with one award for dramas and a separate prize for musicals/comedies.
Newcomer Mikey Madison is hotly tipped for the award for best female actor in a musical/comedy film for playing a New York stripper who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch in Anora.
She will take on others including Demi Moore, who has won praise for her role as a veteran Hollywood star who goes to extreme lengths to recapture her youth in body horror The Substance. It is Moore's first nomination for 28 years.
Zendaya, Amy Adams and Karla Sofía Gascón are in the same category, as is Erivo, one of four nominations in total for Wicked.
The film, based on the Broadway musical about the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, will hope to combine awards acclaim with commercial success after making $455m (£356m) so far at the box office.
Grande will go up against fellow singer and former children's TV star Gomez, who plays the wife of the drug lord in Emilia Pérez.
Gomez is a double nominee, also being shortlisted for TV comedy Only Murders in the Building.
British talent
A number of British stars have made it on to the shortlists.
Grant has the seventh Golden Globe nomination of his career, for horror film Heretic, while Felicity Jones has her second for The Brutalist, a decade after her first for The Theory of Everything.
Her co-star in the latter, Eddie Redmayne, is also hoping for a Golden Globe this year, for his TV show The Day of the Jackal.
He will go up against Gary Oldman for Slow Horses, while his co-star Jack Lowden is listed in one of the supporting categories.
Elsewhere, Keira Knightley is nominated for her new spy drama Black Doves. Her competitors include Emma D'Arcy, who has House of the Dragon's only citation.
Richard Gadd stands a strong chance of winning best male actor in a limited series for Baby Reindeer. His rivals include fellow Scot Ewan McGregor, for A Gentleman in Moscow.
Baby Reindeer's Jessica Gunning is in the running for best supporting female TV actor.
Pop star Robbie Williams is up for the best song award for Forbidden Road, from his forthcoming film biopic Better Man.
Snubs
However, there was no nomination for Britain's Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who had been tipped to be recognised for her role in director Mike Leigh's hard-hitting film Hard Truths.
And there was nothing for British film Blitz or Saoirse Ronan, who had been in contention for that film and another acclaimed drama, The Outrun.
Fellow Irish star Paul Mescal missed out on a nod for Gladiator II, which only received two nominations - one for Denzel Washington in the acting categories, and a nod for cinematic and box office achievement, which was introduced last year to recognise popular films.
There were also two nominations for Dune: Part Two - best drama film and best original score. But voters overlooked Chalamet's lead performance and Denis Villeneuve's direction.
And there was no room for the Dune sequel on the eight-strong shortlist for the cinematic and box office achievement prize despite it being fourth on the global list of the most successful releases of 2024.
Wicked is among the hits up for that award this year, although its mastermind Jon M Chu missed out on a nomination for best director.
The Golden Globe winners, chosen by 300 international critics, will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on 5 January, followed by the Oscars on 2 March.
The Globes host, Nikki Glaser, has been nominated herself for best TV stand-up for Nikki Glaser: Someday You'll Die.
The body that used to be behind the Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, was criticised in 2021 for corruption and a lack of diversity in its voting body, and was accused of accepting "freebies" in exchange for nominations and other ethical lapses.
As a result, the body expanded and diversified its membership, implemented a new code of conduct, and changed its name.
Source: BBC
Bd-Pratidin English/ Afsar Munna
